Nicola Sturgeon has written to the Prime Minister urging him to review an exploitation licence granted for the field in 2001, in light of climate change targets.
Approval still being considered
The Oil and Gas Authority is now considering whether to give its approval. However, the First Minister has repeatedly refused to say whether she personally opposes the development.
Drilling at Cambo could start next year and continue for 25 years. Siccar Point Energy, the firm behind the development, says it could create more than 1,000 jobs directly and more in the supply chain.
Pressed whether the field should go ahead, Mr Jack told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show: “One hundred per cent we should open the Cambo oil field, 100 per cent we need to keep backing oil and gas.”
He added: “We still need oil for our petrochemicals industry, to make instruments for our NHS – that won’t stop. We will stop combustion engine production by 2035, as it should be.
“But it won’t change the fact we will still need oil for products and we have to be realistic about that.”
He said all of the UK Government’s “calculations” on net-zero had factored in the oil and gas fields, like Cambo, which have been awarded licenses.
Mr Jack also defended the Chancellor’s decision in last week’s Budget to halve air passenger duty on domestic flights, saying it put Aberdeen Airport on the same footing as Inverness, which already has an exemption.
Concern after Acorn misses out on funding
However, he admitted he was “very upset” that the Acorn carbon capture project in Aberdeenshire was not one of two selected by the UK Government in its first round of funding.
Ms Sturgeon last week said the decision was “inexplicable on any objective grounds” but the Scottish Secretary said the projects chosen in Humberside, Teeside and Merseyside have a “huge hinterland” of industrially produced carbon.
In contrast, he said this was not the case in Aberdeenshire and the Acorn site would rely on carbon imported from the Continent.
However, Mr Jack said he was pushing for it to be included in the second wave of funding and for this to be brought forward “dramatically” from 2030.
Caroline Rance, a Friends of the Earth Scotland campaigner, said: “Climate science is clear that we need a rapid phase out of oil and gas. There are over six billion barrels of oil in already operating [or] granted UK fields, more than enough to see us through the transition.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Unlimited extraction of fossil fuels is not consistent with our climate obligations.
“Our focus must now be on achieving the fastest possible just transition for the oil and gas sector – one that delivers jobs and economic benefit, and also ensures our energy security and meets our climate obligations.”
